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I’m ready to quit smoking: Why choose e-cigarettes?

by Rhiannon Ellison on November 15, 2019

We don’t need to tell you that smoking is incredibly bad for you. The fact that it kills around 77,800 people in the UK every year immediately gives you 77,800 reasons to quit. But then there’s that other key thing we don’t need to remind you of – quitting is hard.

Two main things make it incredibly hard to quit smoking: the way we react to cigarettes on a chemical level, and the way we respond on a psychological level.

Nicotine is highly addictive, and smoking is a super quick way to deliver a high concentration of nicotine to the brain – it can travel through your lungs, bloodstream, heart, and brain in 6-10 seconds.

This process triggers a dopamine release (our pleasure hormone), which is why nicotine is so addictive. Smoking becomes a habit that creates sensations of pleasure and reward – basically, it just feels good.

When you stop smoking, you experience the opposite – withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, depression, and restlessness. The knowledge that these uncomfortable sensations will all disappear with just one cigarette can trigger a very difficult internal battle.

But it’s not just about nicotine. Smoking can become part of your identity. The physical routine of where, when, and who you light up with can play a very important role in your life.

There’s also a distinctive sensory aspect to smoking that people tend to enjoy, such as the hand-to-mouth gesture, the taste of tobacco, the feeling of inhaling and exhaling.

It’s the combination of our brain’s physical reaction to nicotine and the psychology behind the act of smoking that makes it so difficult to give up cigarettes.

Why are e-cigarettes the best nicotine replacement method?

A recent study revealed that in just one year, e-cigarettes helped 50,000-70,000 people in the UK quit smoking (who otherwise would have continued to use cigarettes).

So, what’s so great about e-cigarettes versus nicotine patches or other methods?

Stop-smoking products such as nicotine patches, gum, or pills are designed to tackle the first part of the problem – the nicotine addiction – but they fail to address the other half of the battle – the psychological and social role of smoking.

Vaping, on the other hand, delivers a satisfying nicotine hit while also fulfilling those other key psychological factors.

E-cigarettes allow you to keep up with the familiarity of your smoking routine, which can be especially important if you’re used to treating it as a social activity with friends or co-workers. It also fulfills the sensory aspects, such as the hand-to-mouth gesture, the flavour, and the inhale/exhale dynamic.

In short, e-cigarettes allow you to maintain all the things you liked about smoking while avoiding the life-threatening effects of tobacco.